Freelancing in Germany as an expat way to live

The expat exodus nowadays is being fuelled by individuals whose plans to see the world simply include arriving in a chosen country and setting up as a freelancer.

Germany’s fondness for bureaucracy can be a stumbling block for some, but once you’ve familiarised yourself with VAT, tax and other such matters running a day to day freelancing business can be fun as well as rewarding. The first rule is to never, ever sell yourself short, even if you’re desperate to earn your daily crust. The vast majority of those who fall down on this do so because they’ve no real idea how much they should charge, but charging too little in Germany is likely to put off more clients than it attracts.

This is especially true if you’re teaching English or any other foreign language as the teaching market place is the most competitive in the freelance sector. According to expats who’ve been there and done that, Germans tend not to go for the cheapest option as they fear a lack of quality in the service provided. In addition, the country isn’t as yet set up for freelancing as a way to earn a living, as the system itself expects expats to earn around €700 net per day – a totally unrealistic target figure for the average freelancer.

The first task for would-be expat freelancers is to find out the normal employee salary in your sector at your level, then double or treble it, using this figure to fix your hourly rate. If you’re not quite getting it right, diversification might well be the answer as regards finding new clients. For example, advertising your services on CraigsList or Ebay can work well, especially if your field is editing, writing or translating.

Another way to find customers is via taking a training course as it allows you to meet new people and broaden your client base whilst you’re learning new skills. Diversifying into further education is another idea, as are coding classes and TEFL courses for those hoping to eventually work their way around the world teaching English as a foreign language.